1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video recording/reproducing apparatus and method which records video information such as television programs in large-capacity recording media such as hard disk drives.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has heretofore been a method in which a program recorded in a conventional video recording/reproducing apparatus is reproduced using a recording start time included in recorded program information (e.g., Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-185904).
Here, an apparatus starting time is recorded at an apparatus starting time, and the recorded program information is received from a plurality of recording/reproducing apparatuses using inter-apparatus communication means. The recording start time is extracted from the received recorded program information, and a recorded program start time is compared with the apparatus starting time. When the recording start time comes before the apparatus starting time, the recording start time, recorded program name, and recorded time period are displayed in CRT. Moreover, a dial which asks audiences whether or not to play back the recorded program is also displayed. When the recording start time does not come before the apparatus starting time, or when any recorded program information does not exist, it is displayed that there is not any recorded program.
However, in this document, a video tape is assumed as a recording medium, and all the recorded program information is simply displayed in order from the latest recording start time. When the number of recorded programs increases, it has been difficult to search a desired program.
Further in this document, when the audience does not want to play back the recorded program at the time of starting the apparatus, the recorded program information that has not been watched is stored as a “non-watched recorded program list”. Accordingly, information which is possessed by a plurality of recording/reproducing apparatuses and which indicates whether or not recorded programs have been watched can be simplified and managed. However, by the “non-watched recorded program list”, it is only seen whether or not the program has been watched, and it cannot be seen that the program has been watched. Furthermore, only the watching of the recorded information is assumed by the recording/reproducing apparatus, and received video information broadcasted in real time cannot be selected as a source of video to be watched.
In this manner, the conventional video recording/reproducing apparatus has a disadvantage that it is difficult to search a desired recorded program. There is also a disadvantage that real-time broadcasted video cannot be selected as a watching object video.